Kirin
Kirin |Debut= |Voice Actors= |Gender= Male |Hair Color= Brown |Eye Color= Black |Nationality= Chinese |Affiliation= Teki (formerly) |Strider Rank= |Weapon= |Fighting Style= Secret Style of TaijutsuIseneko (October 1, 1988). "Cannon Dancer". Gamest (151). Pg. 242Game Area 51 (May 29, 2011). "Utata Kiyoshi Artdot Works" (Japanese). Pg. 10. }} Kirin ( , originally planned to be Killing'Game Area 51 (May 29, 2011). "Utata Kiyoshi Artdot Works" (Japanese). Pg. 17.) is the main protagonist in Kouichi Yotsui's ''Osman, his "irregular" sequel to the original Strider. He's called '''Osman in the English version. Kirin is an elite warrior of Teki, a mercenary unit whose members boast incredible physical prowess and skill, training their physique until they can be called "weapons". Among them Kirin stands as a top class fighter expert in hand-to-hand combat, having succeeded a secret style of martial arts, and as such he holds the title of the strongest TekiGame Area 51 (May 29, 2011). "Utata Kiyoshi Artdot Works" (Japanese). Pg. 16.. Silent and stoic, Kirin is a man of little words but strong determination, stopping at nothing to accomplish his goal. He also seems to possess a strong sense of duty as he can't stand being betrayed, revealing a violent and vengeful side to him. Story Kirin was summoned by the Federal attorney general, Jack Layzon, to take on a mission. Receiving him on his quarters on Prague, Layzon requests him to recover the middle-eastern city of Gran from a terrorist cult named "Slaver". Kirin infiltrates the city and confronts the cult's forces, eventually arriving at their main temple and defeating Herio, a being of fire. The mission, however, turns out to be a trap: Right after his victory, Jack Layzon suddenly appears with a large police force and, using all the destruction caused by Kirin and the cult's battle as legal excuse, has the cultists arrested. As Kirin's part on his plan is over, Layzon then has his men shoot him. When he wakes up, Kirin finds himself chained to a rock in a desert. Narrowly escaping becoming food for a large monster, Kirin decides to head back to Prague in order to exact revenge on Layzon. Traveling through a Federal mining complex under the desert, Kirin discovers his former allies from Teki want to kill him as well, and kills the first in battle. Kirin then joins a band of pirates to cross the Indian Ocean, where they are chased by a Federal warship and Kirin is suddenly assisted by the goddess Slaver, who recognizes his desire to kill and gives him her permission to kill freelyMitchell Corp. (February 1996). Cannon-Dancer (Japanese). Slaver (Stage 4): "This man, what is he doing? Were you cast away? You want to kill? You may take away life freely. I desire its destruction.". He also faces and kills the second member of Teki. Upon reaching the mainland, Kirin enters the "Forest of Memory", a place which appears to have a strange effect on people's perception of past and present. Here he faces the last surviving Teki, who reveals to Kirin they have fought in the past and Kirin was killed then, and goads him into choosing the memory of where it happened (in-game this is a choice between the previous three boss areas). Upon winning in the memory, however, it is revealed it was all a false "scenario" manufactured by the Teki in an attempt to kill Kirin. With all enemies out of the way, Kirin arrives at Prague and finally faces Jack Layzon, but at the last moment his revenge is denied when Slaver appears and murders the traitor in front of him. Slaver then calls to Kirin, referring to him as her "beautiful murderous weapon" and calling herself "his master", seemingly thinking he's been "enslaved" to her will. Kirin's bloodthirst, however, grows even stronger and he eventually targets Slaver herself insteadMitchell Corp. (February 1996). Cannon-Dancer (Japanese). Slaver (Stage 6): "This bloodthirst! You intend to fight me?". Slaver sends in several ressurected bosses, a clone of Kirin and even all three Teki, but Kirin kills them all again and reaches her. Slaver finally confronts Kirin in a duel to determine who is the strongest, with Earth standing as the prizeMitchell Corp. (February 1996). Cannon-Dancer (Japanese). Slaver (Stage 6): "Me! Or you! The strongest will have it. The reward...is this!". Slaver goes all out against Kirin, but in the end she's defeated. It appears Slaver's hold over Earth is over as she sheds a tear and dies, while still proclaiming her godhood. Kirin then proclaims himself the superior god. Skills and Abilities As a warrior of the highest order, Kirin possess beyond peak human strength, agility and resistance, being capable of feats such as climbing and moving across difficult terrains like mountains effortlessly and without any sort of special equipment. He can perform long jumps, somersaults, mid-air spins and climb through any surface with his bare handsMitchell Corp. (February 1996). Cannon-Dancer Arcade flyer (Japanese). He's powerful enough to bisect an armored man with his bare punches and kicks. As a martial arts expert, Kirin dominates a number of special moves including turning, roundhouse and crouching spin kicks he can perform from any position and a fast punch combination called the "Shredding Dance", as well as deadly throw maneuvers for both ground and air-based enemies. When powered-up, Kirin is able to create up to four orange energy copies of himself which mimic his every attack, allowing him to attack from several different angles at the same time. He also counts with a powerful technique known as the "Kirin Star Festival", in which he draws a five-pointed star in mid-air leaving a copy at each point, after which they all converge into its center for a powerful explosive attack. When at full power he also counts with an unique physical ability that allows him to create a blade of energy with each kick he strikes, extending his melee range and increasing the strength of his attack. Design Notes According to artist Utata Kiyoshi, Kirin's character direction was determined one time he was taking the train and saw an ad for the 1994 novel The Fist of God by Frederick Forsyth, which made him decide the main character would fight with no weapon, entirely bare-handedGame Area 51 (May 29, 2011). "Utata Kiyoshi Artdot Works" (Japanese). Pg. 18.. Kirin's visual design changed very little from the first sketches to its final design, looking roughly the same but lacking some finer details such as the kanji on his chest. Kirin's gameplay, however, went through a lot of changes during development. Initial sketches played with the idea of "command techniques" not unlike a fighting game, with Kirin having different attacks based on motion and button combinations. A scrapped idea by Utata Kiyoshi included specific button presses and cancelling inspired in the control scheme of Capcom games. Kirin's screen-clearing attack, the "Kirin Star Festival", was also initially planned to be a multi-part move in which the player had to input five different commands in order to complete the five-pointed star, a process inspired in the multi-part command move "Akira Special" from Virtua Fighter 2.Game Area 51 (May 29, 2011). "Utata Kiyoshi Artdot Works" (Japanese). Pg. 19. An early build mistakenly given to Gamest and used to write its walkthrough features a few gameplay differences from the final release, including the lack of the energy copy power-up, the Kirin Star Festival working by pressing forward twice and the attack button and functioning with a small gauge found at the top-right corner which charged up with each defeated enemy, and Kirin's kick extension power-up being part of the Shredding Dance move instead of a power-up activated by an item.SHO (November 30, 1995). "Cannon Dancer". Gamest (156). Pg. 202. The Kirin or Qilin is an Asian mythological creature often associated with the unicorn, said to bring prosperity to those who see it and to appear when a ruler is about to arrive or depart. This could be symbolic in Kirin's nature as the one who dethrones Slaver and seemingly takes her place, with the Earth placed as the prize of their duel. The Qilin are also known for their peaceful nature, a stark contrast with Kirin's violent and vengeful behavior. This is accentuated in how his name was initially going to be "Killing". The name Kirin was also derived from the proposed name "Killing" considered for both the protagonist and the initial game title. His English name Osman is the Persian or Turkish transcript of the Arabic Uthman, possibly used to relate him with the Persian-based setting of the first two stages. Similarities with Hiryu As many elements of Osman are similar to Strider, Kirin's design and backstory are very reminiscent of Hiryu's: both are the top agents of mercenary-like organizations (Teki and the Striders, respectively) with a claimed descendance from ancient ninja, consummate professionals of few words, experts of close melee combat and both their styles are listed as "Taijutsu". As another small nod to Hiryu, a possible reading of the kanji for Kirin's fighting style ( ) is a homophone for "Hiryu's Taijutsu". Kirin's fluid animations took a huge amount of data and extended over 1600 different sprite patternsGame Area 51 (May 29, 2011). "Utata Kiyoshi Artdot Works" (Japanese). Pg. 23.; a similar situation happened with Hiryu as Yotsui stated his animations used the amount they'd use in two games at the time.Jones, Darran (24 Apr 2010). "The Making of... Strider". Retro Gamer (76). pp. 48-53. Kirin's ability to create blades of energy with his kicks, however, is the same as used by Tong Pooh and the Kuniang sisters, and explicitly inspired by them as Yotsui designed Kirin based on the idea he was related to the "Tong Pooh clan".Scion; Dire 51 (24 April 2010). "Interview with Kouichi "Isuke" Yotsui". LSCM 4.0. Translated by Gaijin Punch. Accessed 24 Oct 2010. Gallery Osman_kirin_flyer.png|Kirin's artwork from the flyer Osman_art_kirin1.png|Kirin's artwork Osman_gamest_calendar.png|The four members of Teki Utatakiyoshi_Kirin.jpg|Kirin, by Utata Kiyoshi Osman_kirin_sketch1.png|Concept art Osman_kirin_sketch2.png|Concept sketch Osman_kirin_sketch3.png Osman_kirin_sketch4.png Osman_kirin_concept_art.png References Category:Articles related to Strider